<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I'm going to be a rising freshman to UD and, right now, my main (school) concern is choosing a math class. As a bit of a preface: I took both calculus ab and bc in school and got a 5 on both of the tests (though I forgot most of it by now). I really like the problem solving involved in calculus. That being said, I hear the teacher is by no means easy, and I also hear that the class is hard A. I'm not one to shy away from hard work or a challenge, but I was also thinking about 1) it being my first year at UD, 2) the biomedical engineering major with several somewhat difficult classes included freshman year, and 3) the hours and hours of work that might be involved. I'm also a pre-med so I was thinking about that too.</p>
<p>Given all that, I'm wondering if the risk of getting a B or lower (and starting college with possibly a less than ideal GPA) and the hours of work tacked onto a pre-med schedule is worth the additional learning and challenge?</p>
<p>Also, what is the difference between regular and honors math 242? Is it more information, more rigor, maybe more of a challenge? </p>
<p>Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>I would recommend that you discuss this issue with your Honor’s Advisor when you go to NSO (if you have not as yet attended it). I can’t speak specifically for Math 242 but I know that the Honor’s courses our D took in Nursing required more meetings with the professors and the writing of more research papers (as compared to students in the regular course). One benefit of this additional work is that it usually is taken into consideration when the course grade is determined. As long as you do reasonably well with the added work this “tends” to result in a higher grade for the course. Again I am not speaking about all Honor’s courses so just keep this in mind (obviously there is no guarantee about this). I will say this based on my academic/professional experience. An “Honors” Calculus Course looks very good on one’s transcript when applying to professional schools. Good luck.</p>
<p>My D is also an Honors student and what she found (YMMV) is that the honors courses/sections involved more interaction with professors and more opportunity to make an impression and ask questions personally.</p>
<p>But as Mwallenmd says, the honors designation is a pretty thing on the transcript. Also, just keep in mind that you have to have X number of honors credits in the first two years in order to get the general honors award and to stay in the program, and since some of the honors sections are small and fill up quickly, if you were my kid I would advise you to keep that in mind.</p>